Battle of Cowpens

The Battle of Cowpens was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that was fought on 17 January 1781. The battle saw the American forces doubly envelop the British commander Banastre Tarleton's forces during a cavalry clash, and the British were decisively defeated.

General Charles Cornwallis had dispatched Banastre Tarleton with 1,150 British Army dragoons to stop the American Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan from attacking Fort Ninety Six, and Morgan's detachment decided to make a stand at the Broad River. The British were malnourished and exhausted by the time that they had finally reached the river, and their assaults on the American lines were held back by stalling actions. The British lost their cohesion as they chased after fleeing American militiamen, and Morgan marshalled up his men for a counterattack, attacking the British from multiple sides. Tarleton's brigade was wiped out as an effective fighting force, and the ensuing Battle of Guildford Court House would convince Cornwallis to head north to North Carolina to pursue the main American southern army. Cowpens was a decisive victory of the southern theater of the war, as well as of the war itself.